15th Sep 2019 | Updated at 04:20am 15th Sep 2019

Women voters outnumber men in 13 states and UTs

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 05:59 EDT

Female voters outnumbered male voters in as many as 13 states and Union territories in the Lok Sabha polls that concluded on Sunday. The new entrants to this club are Bihar and Uttarakhand, the only states in the north to figure on this list.

In 2014, 10 states and UTs had seen more women than men voting, but within the then undivided state of Andhra Pradesh, the part that now remains Andhra had also recorded a larger number of female voters than male. Thus, effectively 11 of the current states and UTs had witnessed this trend five years ago.

The current list is dominated by states and UTs in the south and northeast, the only exceptions being Goa and Daman Diu in the west and the two northern states. Kerala leads the pack with over 900,000 more women voters than men. At the other end, Lakshadweep had just 165 more women voting than men.

While 11of the 13 states and UTs had more female than male voters even in 2014, the gap has widened in each case quite significantly. In Kerala, for instance, it has increased from a little over 600,000 to more than 900,000. In Tamil Nadu, the jump is from just over 100,000 to nearly 600,000.

Put together, in these 13 states and UTs, there were 21,00,000 more women voting than men. A caveat is in order in the case of Bihar. The tally here is based on detailed numbers for the first six phases of the polls, and the lead women voters have over men is only around 130,000. It is possible, though not likely, that the numbers from the seventh and final phase could change the picture.